After watching this weekends action, I am further convinced of what I already know. Northeastern got hosed and GMU only got into the BB's because of name recognition. ESPN is who we thought they were, a shill or BCS teams. That's why their "expert panel" when the tournament comes around usually consists of Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas and some other BCS homer to tell us why mid-majors suck and BCS teams are much better.
I can still hear Digger bashing George Mason being allowed into the tournament on an at-large a few years ago. How did that turn out schmuck?
Anywho, a few more random thoughts from this weekends games before we get into the rest of the bracketbuster matchups:
The ACC is the best conference in America. Hands down. If I was a betting man, I'd take the NCAA Champ to come out of the ACC and I wouldn't look back. Duke, UNC, Wake, and laugh if you want, Clemson, all have legit shots to win the Title. Clemson can beat ANYONE if they are on. Will they be on in the tourney? Doubtful, at least not for 6 straight games. But you never know, if they find that extra gear that they have, they could surprise alot of people.
The Big East is starting to look a little overrated. Marquette got dropped by an awful USF team, Georgetown isn't even a tourney team this year, Louisville is way too schizo to be taken seriously, Nova has a fatal flaw (no size), Syracuse is overrated and Notre Dame is a joke. The only two teams I take seriously out of this conference are UCONN and Pitt and only because they have the size and experience to win in the tourney. Tell me if your life depended on it, would you take Syracuse, Villanova or Louisville to make it to the Sweet 16? Hell no. I'd probably even take WVU to make it further than any of those teams. The Big East is going to need alot more observation from tourneybubble, because right now, I'm not really feeling this conference.
The Mountain West and the A-10 will both have at least 1 team in the Sweet 16 this year. My guess? Not who you think. Utah from the MWC and Dayton from the A-10 (bet you thought I was going to pick Xavier). But these are the two most underrated conferences in College Basketball this year, hands down. When you consider that Wyoming is in 7th place and they beat Northern Iowa (the number 1 team in the MVC this year) and nearly beat Utah State at Utah State, I'd say you have a solid conference.
The A-10, likewise, has very good depth from top to bottom. UNC-Charlotte is in 12th place in the Atlantic 10 (go figure, I know) and yet, they almost pulled out big wins against Clemson (lost by 1), Providence (lost by 5) and Maryland. They beat Miss St. and Southern Illinois, and just upset Dayton. That is a tough league. Duquesne, Xavier, Temple, St. Joe's and Dayton are all VERY tough places to win at and any BCS team would struggle to get a win in those gyms (just ask Tennessee, Va Tech, Memphis, Missouri, Marquette, Penn St. etc.)
Word to the wise, Wed. night, Xavier at Dayton is a MUST WATCH. This is the game of the year in the A-10. If you like college basketball, you MUST watch this game from start to finish.
I watched New Mexico St. - Nevada on tv this weekend and came away thoroughly unimpressed. Their "white-out" game at home was a complete joke, the atmosphere was dead and they played VERY poor defense. No wonder the WAC seemingly gets rolled in the NCAA tourney every year. I may have to rethink my blind support of Utah State. Yeah, 23-1 is great but man, if they are playing teams like that all the time, I can't say I am all that impresed.
Look for VCU to go out to Nevada and hand them their asses. I'm not sure anyone in the CAA is better equipped to go on the road and handle the national spotlight better than Maynor and VCU in this game. Maynor shines when then lights are on and this will be no exception. If you were a betting man, you might want to bet the wagon on VCU, hell, its can't be any less safe than investing in stocks right now.
It's a damn shame Utah State is getting such a gimee in St. Mary's in the bracketbusters. St. Mary's without Patty Mills might as well be Pepperdine. Yeah, they have Omar Samhan and Diamon Simpson, but look at whats happened to them without Mills in the lineup. They were 18-1 when he went out injured and they've proceeded to lost 3 of their last 4 (yes, the Gonzaga game was the one he was injured in, but they still lost it without him finishing the game). They better get him back for the WCC tourney or at least when a couple coming down the stretch, because if they continue to lose games like the 18 point beatdown to Santa Clara, an at-large bid might go bye bye and they will need to win the tourney auto-bid.
I am qualifying now that I am a biased homer before going any further with this prediction. With that said, the ODU-Liberty bracketbuster should be a GREAT game. On one hand, you have the highest scoring freshman in the country, the younger brother of Stephen Curry and a very solid 17-8 Liberty squad which has beaten George Mason, UVA and came within 5 of Clemson. They run a 5 guard lineup and should make for a VERY interesting matchup to watch.
On the other hand, you have the red-hot 15-8 ODU Monarchs, winners of 5 of their last 6 and on a tear ever since 6-10 Center Gerald Lee has developed an attitude and decided to go on a rampage in the CAA. He went from a 3 game stretch of 21 total points to a stretch of 88 points over his last 4 games. He is beginning to realize his potential and that he has the ability to dominate in the CAA. Add in the fact that this game will be in front of a nearly if not completely sold out Constant Center (a fortress for the Monarchs) and an extremely hostile crowd, and you have the makings of a FANTASTIC mid-major game on national television.
Casual fans should assuredly tune into this game to see that yes, mid-majors, even the ones who aren't in first place in their leagues, can still play some great basketball and deserve the recognition of the likes of ESPN, even if it is for only 1 day a year (shaking my head). A 5 guard lineup with Seth Curry and company against a massive team that goes 6"10, 6"8, 6"5, 6"3, 6"1 and can even go bigger at times. Should make for a GREAT matchup, stylistically speaking, to see what both coaches come up with in such a matchup.
Finally, I want to talk about a game that will probably be overlooked by most of the sports viewing public but that basketball diehards like myself cannot wait to see. I am talking about Siena-Northern Iowa. While neither is a "glamour team" and neither will get votes in the AP top 25, Siena is a heck of a basketball team and could easily pull off another upset in the tourney this year much like they did last year, crushing Vandy and nearly knocking off Villanova. They lost some tough early games (Pitt, Kansas, Wichita State, Tenn.) and were in all those games pretty much until the end. Kenny Hasbrouck and Edwin Ubiles are a fantastic 1-2 combo and Hasbrouck can really fill up the stat sheet when he is on. Siena is a very long team that will create defensive havock for Northern Iowa and make it hell for them for 40 minutes.
On the other side of the coin, Northern Iowa is playing GREAT basketball right now. Winners of 11 of their last 12 (tough to do in the MVC), they have been dominating in the paint with their size and strength. Their 7-1 center Jordan Eglseder is a beast in the paint and on the boards, and Adam Koch is a tough guard for anyone. However, Siena does have the wing players that can harrass Koch and force turnovers from a slower, bigger team like Northern Iowa.
Neither team has much of a chance at getting an at-large, Siena has an outside chance if they win this game and win out to their conference finals, but both teams will want this game badly. The MAAC has long been an overlooked league, but Siena and Niagra are both very solid teams and either would be a danger in the NCAA tourney. Niagara also will play a good MVC team in Illinois State, and were both teams to come away with victories and win out to their conference championship game, we might see 2 MAAC teams into the tourney for the first time in quite a while. Both would be very dangerous as 11 or 12 seeds.
Bracketbusters weekend is definetly one of the best weekends of the year that isn't in March, as bragging rights, school and conference pride are all put on the line in a competition of David's vs. David's. Some of the games end up being epic (Drexel-Creighton, GMU-Wichita State, Butler-Drake, Butler-Southern Illinois etc. I have no doubt Butler-Davidson and Northern Iowa-Siena, among others, will probably end up in that same category this year.
Most of all, Bracketbusters is a time when finally, the BCS teams take a back seat and basketball, being played the right way, is celebrated on a national stage. Sure, they may be made for tv matchups and sure, the ratings might not be spectacular, but for real basketball fans and fans of the game being played the right way, Bracketbusters is a mini-NCAA tourney, and fans of leagues like the CAA, Horizon, MVC and others can band together and say "look, we can play high-level basketball too." Just because those leagues aren't on ESPN every night doesn't mean they aren't playing fantastic basketball that the average basketball fan cannot enjoy.
Bring on the Bracketbusters!
